GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Organizers of the Rocky Mountain Western States Regional IDPA Championship, initially scheduled to take place July 4-6 in Montrose, Colorado, have announced that the match is being canceled in the wake of Colorado’s recently passed gun control laws.

An estimated 300-plus shooters from the neighboring states and across the country were expected to attend the three-day competitive shooting event. This is the second shooting competition to abandon the state after a recent announcement by firearms maker Ruger that it was moving the 2013 Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Championship out of Colorado.

“With these new Colorado laws going into effect July 1, and based on the ambiguous way in which they were written, we have decided to cancel the Rocky Mountain Western States Regional IDPA Championship,” said event organizer Walt Proulx of Grand Junction.

“Due to the growing number of hunters and shooters choosing to boycott Colorado, and the risk that these laws as written will turn law-abiding citizens into criminals, we were left with no other choice but to cancel what was planned to be one of IDPA’s major regional championships, and one strongly supported by Montrose-area businesses.”

Cancellation of the Rocky Mountain Western States Regional adds to the negative economic impact resulting from the passage of Colorado’s recent gun control legislation. Already, Colorado-based firearms accessories manufacturer Magpul Industries Corp. has announced its intention to leave the state, and Michael Bane, an independent producer for the Outdoor Channel, has said he will cease production of four of the channel’s popular shooting programs in Colorado.

Hunters and shooters, as well as the firearms industry, play a major role in Colorado’s economy. According to data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, over $590 million in annual economic impact is generated by the firearms industry in the state while Colorado’s 259,200 hunters spend another $465 million annually.

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation today strongly objected to the last-minute reversal of the U.S. government position regarding the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. In the closing hours of negotiations on Thursday, March 28, the government abandoned its previous insistence that the treaty be approved only through achieving “consensus” of all the member states. Requiring consensus had been the United States position going back to earlier administrations.

At the end of the session, a U.S. government spokesperson told reporters “It's important to the United States and the defense of our interests to insist on consensus. But every state in this process has always been conscious of the fact that if consensus is not reached in this process, that there are other ways to adopt this treaty, including via a vote of the General Assembly.” The spokesperson went on to say that the United States would vote “yes” on the treaty in the General Assembly, regardless of the positions of other member states. By abandoning the requirement for consensus the United States is assuring passage of the treaty by the United Nations.

“This abrupt about-face on the long-standing United States requirement for ‘consensus’ illustrates that the Obama Administration wants a sweeping U.N. arms control treaty,” said Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “We are troubled by the timing of the Obama Administration’s decision to abandon consensus on the eve of the Senate debate on pending gun control measures. The United Nations treaty would have a broad impact on the U.S. firearms industry and its base of consumers in the U.S.”

Industry analysts have identified three major areas of concern with the treaty text. The treaty clearly covers trade in civilian firearms, not just military arms and equipment. It will have a major impact on the importation of firearms to the United States, which is a substantial source for the consumer market. And it will impose new regulations on the “transit” of firearms, the term defined so broadly that it would cover all everything from container ships stopping at ports to individuals who are traveling internationally with a single firearm for hunting or other sporting purposes.

“We hope that the Members of the U.S. Senate are closely watching the White House abandon its principles and promises in the rush to ramrod this flawed treaty into effect. Not only will they later be asked to ratify this attack on our constitution and sovereignty, but they will also be lavished with new promises from the administration in its drive to push a broad gun control agenda through the U.S. Senate when it returns from recess. They would be right to question those promises strongly,” concluded Keane.

About NSSFThe National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 8,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.

AUSTIN, Texas – Thanks to the early backing from Smith & Wesson, the first ever A Girl & A Gun National Conference taking place this weekend has garnered major support from throughout the firearms industry.

Julianna Crowder, president of A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League, announced that in addition to the support of presenting sponsor, Smith & Wesson, and a host of other major sponsors, the national conference is being supported by Swab-its, gold level sponsor, the Armed Citizens Network, Barnes Bullets and Brownells, silver level sponsors, and Babes With Bullets and Gun Goddess, bronze level sponsors.

“Excitement is building for our sold-out inaugural conference with A Girl & A Gun members from around the country poised to descend on Waco, Texas this weekend,” said Julianna Crowder, president of A Girl & A Gun. “A lot of work went into putting this weekend together but none of it would have been possible without the incredible and unbelievably generous help of our sponsors. We can’t thank them enough for making the 2013 A Girl & A Gun National Conference a reality.”

The 2013 A Girl & A Gun National Conference, Presented by Smith & Wesson, will take place March 22-24 at T.I.G.E.R. Valley, the premiere training facility in Central Texas located in Waco. Bringing together some of the top women in the shooting industry, the conference offers participants training sessions, live-fire instruction and presentations on topics relevant to women participating in the shooting sports today.

A Girl & A Gun Women's Shooting League is a ladies-only organization established by women shooters for women shooters for the pistol, rifle and shotgun sports. Founded in February of 2011 in Austin, Texas, A Girl & A Gun today has more than 1,000 members and 28 clubs in 11 states, making it the fastest growing women’s shooting organization.

Last month, the 16th annual Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor Nationals was held in Springfield, MA. We would like to thank Smith & Wesson for their exemplary and continued sponsorship of our sport, especially during this time of challenge to our Second Amendment rights.

On Saturday evening of the event I addressed the shooters at the banquet, and would like to share the information with our members who were not there. There are many exciting events happening in our sport and here are the highlights.

Tiger Teams: Many of you have asked about the updated rulebook. I am happy to tell you that I have in my possession a copy of the new IDPA rulebook. Although we still have one Tiger Team working, the SO Education team who is finishing the SO curriculum, we are ready to move forward. The next four steps include:

A continuity review which is scheduled for the 3rd week of March. That review, which will include myself, Robert, Terry, Kitty, and other team members, will see us reviewing our document and confirm we have covered every area we want to address.

The second step is presenting the new rulebook to the IDPA Board of Directors (BoD).

The third step, after BoD changes and approval, is to post the document on the IDPA website for member input.

Finally, the fourth step, after assimilating member feedback, is to post the final rulebook, along with a future date that the new rulebook will be in effect. This timeframe between posting of the final rulebook and the effective date will allow members to read it and make themselves familiar with it. We will also use this time to recertify all current SOs and select Safety Officer Instructors for each state. Additionally, our Tigers have selected and are implementing the on-line software that will be used for recertifying current Safety Officers. There will be no charge to our members for this recertification.

As we have mentioned previously, we have always been driven by the need to do the best possible job with the new rulebook, rather than drive to a specific date. We will continue to follow that methodology until such time that we can provide finite dates for each milestone individually.

I am most excited about our continued work on our new website with RangeLog. Events are the lifeblood of any sport - RangeLog’s new Member Services will offer the ability for IDPA clubs to build single day, multi-day and recurring matches and display the events on the club’s detail page, as well as the IDPA’s match calendar.

IDPA competitors will be able to build their personal shooter biography, display or keep private, and allow members to view and bookmark other members from public score cards and leader boards. The new website will also provide IDPA competitors with a central site to view scores from matches and compare best scores/times for each stage they have completed. Coming soon, IDPA clubs can post registration fees and collect fees online, with access to online self-squadding tools and match management.

Smith and Wesson will be hosting the first-even Backup Gun (BUG) Nationals in November of this year. Shooters will be alerted later this year of specifics for this match. Watch for more information about all of these initiatives in the Tactical Journal and on the IDPA website and blog.

Results are in from the 2013 Puerto Rico IDPA National Championship and here's a look at the top five in each division. The full official scores for all competitors can be reviewed online at IDPAPR.com. Before you ask, only the 3 pistol division had competitors.

AUSTIN, Texas – Julianna Crowder, president of A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League, announced that The Massad Ayoob Group, Shield Public Safety & Defense and Voodoo Tactical have signed on as gold level sponsors of the upcoming 2013 A Girl & A Gun National Conference, Presented by Smith & Wesson.

“When we announced our first ever national conference we were not prepared for the outpouring of support we’d receive from the firearms industry. Thanks to the generous support of The Massad Ayoob Group, Shield Public Safety & Defense, Voodoo Tactical and our other sponsors, this weekend’s conference was sold out weeks ago and our members are counting done the hours until we get together in Waco,” said Julianna Crowder, president of A Girl & A Gun.

The 2013 A Girl & A Gun National Conference, Presented by Smith & Wesson, will take place March 22-24 at T.I.G.E.R. Valley, the premiere training facility in Central Texas located in Waco. Bringing together some of the top women in the shooting industry, the conference offers participants training sessions, live-fire instruction and presentations on topics relevant to women participating in the shooting sports today.

A Girl & A Gun Women's Shooting League is a ladies-only organization established by women shooters for women shooters for the pistol, rifle and shotgun sports. Founded in February of 2011 in Austin, Texas, A Girl & A Gun today has more than 1,000 members and 28 clubs in 11 states, making it the fastest growing women’s shooting organization.

“A Girl & A Gun is thrilled to have the support of our two newest platinum sponsors, Packing in Pink and Legion Firearms. Both companies understand the importance of the growing market for women shooters and their conference sponsorship demonstrates their continued focus on providing women with greater opportunities in the shooting sports,” said Julianna Crowder, president of A Girl & A Gun.

The 2013 A Girl & A Gun National Conference, Presented by Smith & Wesson, will take place March 22-24 at T.I.G.E.R. Valley, the premiere training facility in Central Texas located in Waco. Bringing together some of the top women in the shooting industry, the conference offers participants training sessions, live-fire instruction and presentations on topics relevant to women participating in the shooting sports today.

A Girl & A Gun Women's Shooting League is a ladies-only organization established by women shooters for women shooters for the pistol, rifle and shotgun sports. Founded in February of 2011 in Austin, Texas, A Girl & A Gun today has more than 1,000 members and 28 clubs in 11 states, making it the fastest growing women’s shooting organization.

BERRYVILLE, Ark. – Shooters from Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela with go head-to-head for the Puerto Rico IDPA National Championship title this weekend, and the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) is giving you a look at the 12 stage course of fire they’ll face.

Diagrams of all 12 stages of the championship, along with their scenarios and the instructions shooters will receive, are posted on IDPA’s DOWN ZERO Blog. Stages for this and other matches can be found on the blog under Stage Diagrams.

The 2013 Puerto Rico IDPA National Championship takes place in Caguas, Puerto Rico on Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17. The RL Shooting Club is hosting the championship which was organized by match director Max Rivera and assistant match director Tom Yost of Smith & Wesson, one of the major match sponsors.

Over 150 shooters are expected to compete for the title in Custom Defensive Pistol, Enhanced Service Pistol, Stock Service Pistol, Stock Service Revolver and Enhanced Service Revolver, the five divisions within IDPA.

The Puerto Rico IDPA Nationals have received significant support from the shooting sports industry. The championship is being sponsored by Blade-Tech, Century International Arms, Comp-Tac Victory Gear, Fiocchi Ammunition, Fobus Holsters & Pouches, Safariland, Smith & Wesson and Uncle Mike’s Law Enforcement.

For more information on IDPA, or to find a club near you, visit www.IDPA.com. You can also follow the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championship online by following @OfficialIDPA on Twitter, like ShootIDPA on Facebook, watch IDPA TV, or check for regular updates on the DOWN ZERO Blog.

At signal with your week hand close the door, engage T1-T2 in tactical sequence(1-2-1) while moving from P1 to P2. At P2 engage T3-T5 with two shoots and move to P3. At P3 engage T6-T7 with at least one knee on the ground. You must hit the metal leg of target first, to see T6- T7. Then hit T6-T7 with two shoots each in tactical priority.